Confessions

My educational background included reading long novels; spending many hours combing through text for shades of meaning, foreshadowing, ambiguity and paradox; and writing lengthy papers where thousands of words addressed the burning importance of the symbolic nature of the Sir Lancelot's sword. (I doubt I need say more on that subject.)

For the past eleven months, I've taken on the responsibilities of a web content editor and none of my illustrious past accomplishments are very helpful in fulfiling my new responsibilities which basically are to provide copious amounts of information to web page visitors who have only about 60 seconds to spend looking at our page before leaping off into the World Wide Web for something more interesting.

I wonder if most writers, like myself, picture the following scenario: A visitor to our Web site notices the link to my story on Professor Soandso and her groundbreaking research. Eager to learn more, the visitor leans closer in to the computer screen, eagerly clicks the button and is presented with my story. She carefully ruminates over all of my precisely chosen words--thinking to herself what a nice turn of phrase she has just read--then, upon reaching the end of my story, she says, "My, that was an amazing read. I really want to find out more about Professor Soandso."

But of course, the truth is, my visitor has the attention span of a toddler, reads the first sentence or two (if I'm lucky) and then wanders off to play in someone else's backyard.

How do web content editors say what must be said in the short time we have before our guest leaves? How do we make the impression that keeps a visitor coming back to check out our site on a regular basis--even if she doesn't stay long?